A Pre-'Breaking Bad' Gus Fring Promises to Light Up Season 3 of 'Better Call Saul'

The road that lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) heads down to become the Saul Goodman of Breaking Bad gets more treacherous in the third season of Bad prequel Better Call Saul. “Jimmy is sitting on top of a time bomb and he doesn’t know it,” says executive producer Peter Gould, referring to Jimmy’s confession—which was secretly taped by his brother, Chuck (Michael McKean)—that he altered important business documents. “Chuck does not mean Jimmy well with that recording,” Gould adds. “Chuck must have a plan—he is one smart guy. So the question is, when’s the other shoe going to drop?”

Also feeling threatened is ex-cop Mike (Jonathan Banks), who knows someone is watching his every move. “He’s trying to get the drop on this person who’s got the drop on him,” Gould says. “Mike has to find out who has been interfering with his business.”

But perhaps the biggest anticipation for fans is that future drug lord Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) will appear this season. Specifics are scarce, but Gould says Gus won’t yet be quite as diabolical as he was when dealing with Walter White. “It’s a few years before BreakingBad, and what Gus built there was not built [yet],” Gould says. Still, Gus “is as fascinating and multilayered as ever he was.”